Shore Patrol: Salon Meritage memorial plans moving slowly

Plans for a memorial commemorating the victims of the Oct. 12, 2011, mass killings at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach are moving slowly.

The city staff had expected to present the memorial proposal Monday to the City Council for a final vote on the plans. However, the item was not on the agenda.

Tim Kelsey, the city's recreation manager who is coordinating the memorial project, said the council would most likely review the proposal at its meeting on Feb. 11.

Thursday, City Manager Jill Ingram said the staff plans to discuss the memorial plans with state Coastal Commission officials.

"We don't want to make an assumption that they'll be in agreement with us," she said.

A citizens committee - known as the Salon Meritage Memorial Committee - in September began to focus on the First Street Beach as a location for the memorial.

In the mass killing, a gunman stormed the hair salon at 500 Pacific Coast Highway and shot nine people, killing eight. It was the worst mass killing in Orange County history.

Scott Evans Dekraai, the ex-husband of one of the victims, is awaiting trial in the slayings.

The memorial committee shifted from the originally considered site, Eisenhower Park - a 1.4-acre greenbelt adjacent to the pier - to the First Street Beach location, when the latter's relatively isolated features seemed more appealing as a spot for quiet reflection.

In August, the council selected Costa Mesa-based David Volz Design to prepare a proposal for the memorial. The contract for the work is $29,000.

Raves for Ravi's ragas

World-renowned sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar, who died this week, gave his last concert last month at the Terrace Theater.

In a telephone interview before his Long Beach concert, Shankar - considered a world citizen - said he was enjoying life in Encinitas, the quiet and cozy beach town north of San Diego.

"I love it so much," he said, adding that he'd lived there almost 20 years. "I'm lucky to have a beautiful home."

At age 92, Shankar continued to compose music "all the time," he said.

At the Terrance concert, his daughter, Anoushka Shankar - considered one of the leading figures in world music today - played during the first segment of the concert, and then escorted her father onto the stage, to a standing ovation, according to Jeff Miller, of Belmont Shore.

"He was very frail," added Miller, a Shankar fan since the late 1960s.

Shankar had performed for the public since the age of 10, originally as a dancer. He switched to playing the sitar at 19.

When playing and composing, Shankar said his introspective periods enhance his music, adding: "To me, music comes from a vision inside, an inner spiritual state."

Second Street blues

The casual visitor to the Second Street retail and restaurant row might not notice any problems, but there's a considerable amount of crime in that Belmont Shore area.

The Belmont Shore Residents Association reports that in November, two robberies and two assaults took place, according to police statistics.